


Not A Monster

by 4lw4ys_a_fri3nd_n3v3r_a_l0v3r



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A little, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Derek is an alien, Hurt Derek, M/M, Movie Night, No Understanding of Human Nature, Protective Sheriff Stilinski, Protective Stiles, Slow Build, Tumblr Prompt, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-10 00:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4lw4ys_a_fri3nd_n3v3r_a_l0v3r/pseuds/4lw4ys_a_fri3nd_n3v3r_a_l0v3r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I won’t hurt you, I swear.  But there are people who might, so we need to get you out of here.  You can come to my house, but we’ve got to hurry.”</p>
<p>Derek took a step forward, his face creasing into a frown at the words.  “Why won’t you hurt me?”</p>
<p>“Because I’m not a monster.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingkiwi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingkiwi/gifts).



> Tumblr Prompt: _Derek is an alien (looks human xcept has wolf ears and a wolf tail and super senses) who’s ship crashes in the woods of beacon hills and he doesn’t understand humanity at all and he meets Stiles a normal human teenager_
> 
> Prompt from [angels-and-alcohol](http://angels-and-alcohol.tumblr.com/)
> 
> This will be a chaptered!fic because, what I have planned, will not fit in a one-shot drabble
> 
> This is unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine.
> 
> * * * NOTE BELOW - PLEASE READ * * *
> 
> TAKING PROMPTS FOR STEREK ONE-SHOT DRABBLES
> 
> FEEL FREE TO ASK
> 
> SIDE SHIPS ARE WELCOMED AS LONG AS I AGREE
> 
> NO SMUT REQUESTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
> 
> VISIT MY TUMBLR (link can be found on some of my other fics) OR COMMENT
> 
> I WILL LET YOU KNOW IF YOUR PROMPT IS CHOSEN
> 
> * * * END OF NOTE * * *

Stiles was pulling an all night study session when the sky flashed green. He spun around to face his window, blinking. He shook his head.

“I’m must be going crazy,” he muttered to himself, standing and moving to the window. He shoved it open and leaned out, the cool air nice on his warm face.

The green light flashed again, this time above the woods that surrounded Beacon Hills.

“Yep,” Stiles stared in the direction of it. “I’m definitely going crazy.”

“Fucking insane,” he mumbled around ten minutes later as he crossed his garden, carrying numerous items. “Be in the freaking psychiatric ward, I should.”

He flicked the switch on the torch he’d grabbed on his way out, along with his back pack of exploration gear (that included ropes, spare batteries, maps, compasses, spare clothing and other various items), and started heading towards the forest.

It didn’t take him long - he knew Beacon Hills better than most and knew all the quickest routes - but when he reached the woods, things began to get tricky.

He had to maneuver the trees and bushes and the woods in general by the little light the torch provided. He also had to keep an eye out for predators and the source of the light. He had to stay on course and he was suddenly feeling apprehensive as he stepped forward.

The trees and shadows jumped out at him but, as this wasn’t his first trip, it was more his seventh into the woods, he didn’t take fright at all of them. In fact, he was proud to say that he moved into the woods with some speed and efficiency.

Although now he had the problem of having no idea where to go.

That wasn’t a problem though. Some way into the woods, he came across the first large clearing of about six, and on the other side, sat a big, metallic, eye-catching, shiny, strangely shaped…thing.

“What the hell?” Stiles stopped and stared at it before approaching, like the curious idiot he was. “What are you doing, Stiles? Turn back now. Curiosity killed the cat, you know that. Don’t investigate the thing, turn back and leave it alone.”

He didn’t listen to himself, instead choosing to stop right in front of it and reach out his hand to touch it.

“Looks like a spaceship,” he whispered to himself then he snorted with laughter. “That’s just what we need. An alien invasion. Wait until Scott hears.”

He fell silent at the sound of leaves rustling behind him. He whirred around, shining his torch everywhere.

“Hello? Is someone there?” he asked, willing his voice not to fail.

A shadow flitted past at the edge of his vision.

“Hello?” Stiles called again. “I won’t hurt you.”

“Who are you?” a deep voice floated out from the trees. “What are you?”

“My name is Stiles. I’m human. Can you come out of the shadows please?”

Something moved to his right. A shape stepped forward, not quite into the light. Stiles turned slowly towards it.

“Your heart is beating really fast,” the voice continued.

“You can hear my heart?” Stiles asked, his eyes widening a little. “Wow.”

“Who are you?”

“I told you. My name is Stiles. I live near here. Who are you?”

The shape took a step forward. And then another. It slowly moved out of the shadows, into the light. Stiles mouth dropped open a little as he took in the…creature in front of him.

“My title was a letter, a number, a letter, a number, a letter,” the deep gruffness of the voice made Stiles think it was male. He looked human - he had dark hair, muscles, was tall, and had stubble - but he had kind of pointed ears, similar to elf ears from LOTR, and, Stiles blinked, a tail swishing around his legs.

“Your name was L-N-L-N-L?”

The Creature cocked his head. “I do not understand.”

“When your friends wanted your attention, what did they call you? What did they say so that you knew they were talking to you?”

The Creature let out a growl mixed with snaps of his jaw. Stiles stared.

“That was your name? Jeez, what the hell am I supposed to call you?” Calling him the Creature in his head was okay for now but calling him that out loud was surely offensive and Stiles was not going to go there.

“They gave me a Earthian title,” the Creature answered but he didn’t elaborate.

“Earthian? Oh, wait, no I get that. Can I hear it?”

Instead of answering, the Creature produced a piece of material, holding it cautiously out to Stiles. Stiles hesitated then approached and took it from him. Immediately, the Creature scuttled backwards, clearly still wary of him. Stiles tried to smile reassuringly while he examined the material in his hands. It was slick and weird under his fingers.

“4-C-18-C-11,” Stiles managed to read. Whoever wrote this, clearly wasn’t a master at the English language. “This isn’t even a word. Do you know what this is supposed to say?”

The Creature just stared at him.

“Great, you’re technically illiterate of our language, aren’t you? Of course you are, you’re not exactly human, are you?”

“Il-Illiterate?” the Creature echoed, stumbling over the word.

“You can’t read,” Stiles explained, staring down at the code on the material. “Maybe we can switch this around. Instead of four, maybe we can change it to D. And what’s the 18th letter of the alphabet?”

“R,” the Creature suddenly supplied.

Stiles looked up at him in shock. “How do you know that?”

“I was taught about humans,” the Creature answered. “Before they sent me.”

“But you can’t read it?” The Creature shook his head.

“So, D, C, R, C, and 11 is K. Well, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“3.”

“Huh?” Stiles glanced up but focused back on the material.

“C is 3.”

“Derek. That’s your name. D-3-R-3-K.”

“Is that a name?”

“The best,” Stiles handed back the material. “Come on, I should take you somewhere safe. You need to be protected.”

Derek didn’t move.

“I won’t hurt you, I swear. But there are people who might, so we need to get you out of here. You can come to my house, but we’ve got to hurry.”

Derek took a step forward, his face creasing into a frown at the words. “Why will you not hurt me?”

“Because I’m not a monster.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No,” Derek shook his head, and Stiles turned to see him screw his face up as he thought about what he was going to say. “I am happy…because I am…sitting here with…with you. That is why I am happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize it took me ages to put this up. But I kept being distracted by new fanfictions, like _The Teen Detective Agency_ and my unnamed WIP and my newest thing, _Who Are You Really_ , hopefully to be posted soon, and I have like three others I need to start writing, or re-writing, and I have a bunch of other stories than I'm writing for my future an then there's school, and I have some major exams coming up and basically I just haven't had time or inspiration for this.
> 
> Anyway, here's chapter two.

**How do you describe humanity?**

**In the short prose, The Pedestrian, by Ray Bradbury, it was suggested that the basis of humanity was compassion. A lack of compassion meant a lack of humanity.**

**But in terms of Buddhism, humanity could be seen as a number of things. A person is made up by how we look, how we feel, how we act, how we see and how we think. So maybe humanity is made up, not only of compassion, but also of kindness, and love and a need for survival among other things. And without one of these things, it is not humanity, it does not class as humanity.**

**But this is beside the point. How do you describe humanity to someone who doesn’t understand it?**

* * *

“There has to be another way to do this,” Stiles sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Clearly trying to explain everything in the dictionary is too hard. Don’t even know why I attempted it.”

He paced around his room. He’d been questioning and talking to Derek for an hour now and dawn was beginning to color the sky. He was just glad it was a weekend, and his dad wouldn’t worry too much about his long lie in the morning.

Derek, the alien (Stiles was currently wrapping his head around _that_ fact), was watching him from where he sat on Stiles’ unmade bed.

“Maybe there’s some way I can show you what it means to be human,” Stiles mused to himself. “Instead of describing it, that is.”

He scanned the room. And then his eyes lit up as he thought of something he could use to show Derek the meaning of the words in the dictionary.

“Wait here,” he dashed out his room an down the stairs. A few minutes later, he thudded back up, carrying a pile of DVDs. “Maybe these will help.”

“What are those?” Derek inquired, his eyes glowing gold.

“Um, DVDs,” Stiles answered, setting his television. “They are moving pictures accompanied by sound that tell a story.”

He searched through the pile. “Why don’t we start with a happy one? This is _The Bee Movie_. It’s kind of a bad film. Like really weird. But it’s bright and yellow, so it’s happy. And then we can watch some more. Like the older ones. Those are the best. Wait until you see _The Lion King_ or _Mulan_. They are great, even through the sadness.”

He put it in an bounced onto his bed, pulling Derek up, so they were both sitting against the headboard, watching the movie.

“Just watch, you’ll soon understand,” he whispered, pressing play.

Stiles kept an eye on Derek throughout the film. He’d seen _The Bee Movie_ enough times to know what was happening even if he wasn’t paying attention. But Derek watched the whole movie, absorbing it, understanding it. Several times, his face twitched into something resembling a smile. But Stiles couldn’t be sure.

He switched out _The Bee Movie_ for _Tarzan_ , and then _Bolt and_ then _Up_ and so on. Derek didn’t say a word until Stiles moved off the bed to take out _101 Dalmatians_.

“I think I begin to understand,” he spoke up. “We smile, as you say, when we are happy, which is when something good happens. When the people in the pictures have a nice time or they win a battle.”

“Something like that, yeah,” Stiles agreed. “You can usually feel happiness too. It’s when you really need to smile or you fee kind of light and warm.”

“Then I feel…happy now,” Derek responded.

“Happy films have that effect,” Stiles murmured, searching through the pile of scattered DVDs.

“No,” Derek shook his head, and Stiles turned to see him screw his face up as he thought about what he was going to say. “I am happy…because I am…sitting here with…with you. That is why I am happy.”

Stiles stared at him for a moment. “That’s,” he cleared his throat, “that’s great. I’m happy being here with you too.”

A proper smile broke out onto Derek’s face and he took a few moments to practice what he was going to say before saying it. “You are making me happy. You are not hurting me either, like you said.”

“Of course not,” Stiles reassured. “I would never hurt you. I could never hurt you. And I won’t let anyone else hurt you either.”

Derek leaned back on the bed, clearly pleased with what Stiles had said. Stiles turned back to the DVDs.

“How about _The Lion King_? Then you can understand sadness. Or _Mulan_ , because that’s not as sad and you can understand bravery as well. Or we could watch _Wall-E_. But that’s really sad at the end. I should find a movie that’s similar to your situation. Let me think…”

“I do not mind,” Derek spoke up. “They are…helping me.”

“That’s good. Because if they weren’t, well, this would be no good at all. A complete waste of time actually. Maybe we could watch _Monster’s Inc_. It’s not exactly the same but there would be similarities. That’s downstairs, I’ll run down and grab it, before my Dad wakes up.”

Derek watched Stiles dash out the room. He felt more than happiness. He felt something else, but he didn’t know what it was. But when he’d watched… _Tarzan_ , the man and woman looked as though they felt the same way. He wasn’t going to say anything though, in case it was bad.

Stiles was being really…nice, was that the word? Derek nodded the affirmative to himself. And he…well, he’d said he wouldn’t let anyone harm him. Derek didn’t know what to call it but he knew he wouldn’t be harmed if Stiles was around, because he’d said so.

“I got it,” Stiles crashed back into the room, carrying two DVDs. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. We need to watch _The Little Mermaid_. She has to figure out how to act in the human world. And _Enchanted_ , because that’s similar too. Forget _Monster’s Inc_ for now.”

“Okay,” Derek agreed. “What…ever you say.”

Stiles put in the DVD and crawled up the bed to settle next to Derek again, to watch it. “I think you’ll enjoy this one, it’s one of the older Disney films.”

Derek screwed up his face again for a moment. “Thank…you, this is…making me…very happy. So…are…you.”

Stiles smile, ignoring the rush of affection he felt. He could deal with it properly later, but he didn’t want to read to much into it. And he ignored the part where Derek shuffled a little closer to watch the film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I set myself a deadline of next Sunday to finish this completely, and I'm thinking of only three or four chapters for this so just keep an eye out.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>   
>   
> _*whispers*There will definitely be a kiss at some point._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course that all backfired the day he returned home from school to find his dad’s car in the drive and to hear a single gunshot from inside his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, guess what I got yesterday?
> 
> Like I promised, I started writing my new chapter almost immediately. I got this new idea and that is why this thing is four chapters long. I hope to have the next chapter up sometime this week and then I can focus on another one. I have this new one called _Who Are You Really?_ that I might post soon and then I'll be focusing on _The Teen Detective Agency_ and then I'll have others to do, including, just possibly, a Supernatural one. But I do have exams and shit coming up and I'll have some other stuff to do, so who knows how long it will take me, considering I have like five others on hold too.
> 
> But I digress. Here's the actual Chapter 3

A few weeks later, Stiles felt like his eyes were permanently ruined, with all the DVDs he’d been watching and all the sleep he hadn’t been getting. But he knew it was worth it. Derek was getting a much better understanding of humanity, to the point where Stiles forgot he was even an alien. Even Derek’s looks were becoming normal to him. But then again he wasn’t really interacting with many other people these days.

It was hard to keep his father from finding out about Derek. For the first few days, Derek had been very adventurous and curious and wandering out of Stiles room to explore his surroundings and it had been pure luck that the Sheriff hadn’t been home. But Stiles had explained, with the use of a couple of _Heroes_ episodes (the best he could find), how bad it could get if he was caught. After that Derek stayed in Stiles’ room.

Stiles quickly set up some space for Derek. He would hide in the small en-suite bathroom, when the Sheriff was around and Stiles wasn’t, until Stiles got home. It had a lock on the door and the Sheriff generally didn’t go in there anyway. Derek would sleep in the bottom of the closet, as it was wide enough to fit a sleeping bag and Derek could stretch out with ease. At first Stiles had been worried in case it was inhumane or something but, once he understood enough to be able to, Derek had reassured him that it was fine.

Every night they sneaked out and headed to the woods for an hour or two so Derek wouldn’t get too bored. Not that he seemed to be anything other than happy. He enjoyed watching the films with Stiles or, as of recently, reading while Stiles was studying. The only time he didn’t seem so happy was when Stiles left for school or had to go out grocery shopping. Stiles didn’t read into it too much.

Sometimes Stiles wondered if he was getting too attached to the alien. He knew Derek had to be going home soon, which Stiles tried to avoid thinking about too often, because Derek leaving meant Stiles would have to back to being lonely, which he wasn’t really looking forward to. But he was hesitant to bring it up, hesitant to hear the answer. But the days passed and Derek never mentioned anything about it so one night, after they had watched ‘ _Kronk’s New Groove_ ’, Stiles decided to bite the bullet.

“When are you going home?” he blurted in the silence.

“I, um, I don’t know,” Derek answered. “I don’t think I am.”

“Oh,” Stiles relaxed, trying not to sound too elated. “How come?”

“They never mentioned it to me,” Derek sounded a bit flat. “They only told me I was to travel to Earth and learn about humanity.”

“Was anyone supposed to follow you?” Stiles asked, more generally concerned about the reaction to a bunch of aliens suddenly landing in Beacon Hills, even if it wasn’t an invasion.

“No.”

“Oh.”

There was silence.

“Do you want me to leave?”

Stiles spun to face Derek. “Are you crazy? Of course I don’t want you to leave. You’re my friend.”

Stiles forced himself to keep eye contact with Derek, despite how much he wanted to duck his head and blush in embarrassment, and it was worth it to see the smile that spread slowly across Derek’s face.

“Really?” he asked, carefully. “Because…you’re my friend too.”

Stiles smiled in return. “That’s cool. Anyway, what do you want to watch now? I have a whole bunch of DVDs we still need to watch and then there’s Netflix.”

“Whatever you want,” Derek shrugged, an action he had recently gotten the hang of. “I don’t mind.”

Stiles ran his hands over his DVDs, thinking hard. Derek was still a little stilted when he spoke but he’d picked up the human language and interactions pretty quickly. If there was some way to maybe hide his ears and tail, he might be able to go out and start talking to people on the street. Maybe during spring or something, then he could also wear sunglasses to hide his eyes.

“Stiles?” Derek drew him out of his thoughts. Stiles flashed an apologetic look, grabbing a random DVD to watch.

“After this we should get some sleep,” he said, clambering onto the bed. “I have school in seven hours.”

Derek nodded and then Stiles pressed play.

Surprisingly, keeping his grades up wasn’t that hard. He hadn’t been getting much sleep lately - not that he was bothered, he wanted to help Derek – but it didn’t seem to affect his school work. Not that he was complaining about that either, he liked to keep his grades high. He’d been told that he had the second highest grades in the year, and the whole school, and he wanted to keep it that way.

It also meant his dad wasn’t worried about his grades or prying into his life or risking discovering Derek and it meant that he didn’t have to stop spending as much time with Derek.

He didn’t seem to spend that much time with anyone else other than Derek and his dad. He didn’t fawn after Lydia Martin or badger Scott, who was often busy with his girlfriend, to hang out after school. It was strange though: he was in love with Lydia whose best friend was dating Scott, yet Stiles never jumped on the connection and got closer to Lydia. He spent too much time these days focusing on Derek and wondering what films they could watch.

He had told Derek this one night but Derek didn’t know what it meant, still gathering knowledge of humans. He did seem upset at the continuous mention of Lydia until Stiles had mentioned that his crush on her seemed to be disappearing. Stiles hadn’t even noticed it was true until he’d said so to Derek, which was strange, but Stiles had stopped wondering about that after he’d realized that he spent most of his time thinking about Derek and those thoughts had led further on and Stiles had to remind himself that they were just friends and it would probably count as taking advantage since Derek didn’t fully understand everything and Stiles had stopped that train of thought there and left it there.

But anyway, these days it had gotten easier to keep his dad from finding out about Derek because Derek preferred to stay in Stiles’ room and he did venture out but he’d understood about only doing so when the Sheriff wasn’t home and he’s gotten good at listening to make sure the house was empty before going out. His dad was working irregular shifts but he generally worked longer ones than shorter ones and Derek could wander out for longer and make himself something to eat and shower and stuff like that.

So everything was going smoothly, Derek was getting better at being human, Stiles wasn’t losing anything while looking after him and Stiles’ dad was still oblivious to Derek’s presence. So Stiles relaxed and stopped worrying so obsessively over every little thing and began to realize nothing would go wrong.

Of course that all backfired the day he returned home from school to find his dad’s car in the drive and to hear a single gunshot from inside his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's a cliffhanger for y'all.
> 
> This a little longer than my other chapters, but only by like a couple hundred words, so...
> 
> And again, for those of you who have forgotten, [always-a-friend-never-a-lover.tumblr.com](http://www.always-a-friend-never-a-lover.tumblr.com)
> 
> And don't forget to comment. Whether it's some constructive criticism or a prompt for a story, shoot away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sounds like you really care about him,” the Sheriff had commented after one of the explanations, picking up the dirty dishes and taking them to be cleaned.
> 
> “Yeah,” Stiles murmured, returning to watch Derek. “I really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took me so long to write and post. In case you hadn't been keeping up to date with my works, I have actually been busy with my new series _True Identity_ lately, so I've actually not been busy with my other fanfictions. As shown here.
> 
> This chapter, it took me a couple of hours to spit out, blame my cold, and it's longer than the others, blame my imagination. But I hope you like it.

Stiles crashed through the front door, tossing his bag to the side as he did so, and glanced frantically around.

“Dad!” he yelled. “Dad, where are you?”

He ran for the study. It was empty. His dad was home but…

Stiles skidded to a stop in the lounge. “Omigod, what did you _do_?!”

The Sheriff stood in the middle of the room, gun in hand and pointed at Derek, who was curled against the wall. He had a hand clutched over his stomach and Stiles could see blood staining his borrowed shirt.

“Derek, omigod,” Stiles ran forward to help him but his dad threw his arm out to stop him moving any closer.

“Careful, Stiles,” he murmured, eyes on Derek, “it could be dangerous.”

“Dad,” Stiles pushed his arm away and scrambled to his knees next to Derek. The alien looked at him, fear in his eyes.

“He hurt me,” he whispered.

“I know,” Stiles blinked back his tears, gently pulling Derek’s hands away so he could peer at the wound. It was bleeding heavily. “And I know I promised to keep you safe. I’m sorry I failed.”

“Stiles,” his father hissed, “what are you doing? Get away from it.”

“He’s a he, Dad,” Stiles snapped, putting pressure on the wound. “And you just shot him. Why would you do that?”

“Stiles, the thing jumped out at me. What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, scream, run, panic, like a normal person. Anything but shoot him. Oh God, we can’t even take him to the hospital because he’s an alien. Derek, what do I do? I don’t know what to do. You need to tell me what to do.”

“Take,” Derek wheezed, “take the bullet out.”

“But won’t that kill you?”

“I,” he coughed and, oh God, there was _blood_ , “I heal.”

“But what if you don’t?” Stiles panicked. “You might die.”

“Please,” Derek gripped his hands. “It hurts, take it out.”

“Derek, I can’t,” Stiles was on the verge of crying. “I’ll make it worse than it is, and then you _will_ die.”

“I trust you,” Derek murmured before losing consciousness.

“Oh, God, Derek!” Stiles cried. “Derek!”

Stiles took a deep breath and scrubbed his eyes. Take out the bullet. He could do that. For Derek. He would do anything for Derek.

He pulled his hands away from the bleeding wound as far as he dared then he gently lifted Derek’s shirt. The wound was clean and simple. He pressed it a little. Maybe he would be able to dig the bullet out with his fingers. Or there was a pair of tweezers in the kitchen. Maybe they would work better.

“Dad?” he spoke softly to his father who was still standing behind him, “can you-can you get me the tweezers from the kitchen. I need them.”

“But, son,” he tried to say.

“Dad, please?” Stiles interrupted and the tone of his voice pushed his dad into running and grabbing the tweezers.

He returned quickly and handed them to Stiles, along with a bowl of water and some cotton balls. Stiles dipped the cotton into the water and spent a few minutes cleaning the wound. He was also trying not to cry but not succeeding very well.

He bit down hard on his lip, drawing blood, then pushed the tweezers in as hard as he dared. He winced as it tugged a little on its way in. He grimaced when it pushed against the bullet. Tears blurring his vision, he wedged the tweezers around the bullet and started to pull it out. Bit by bit the bullet edged out until it was completely free. But Derek showed no signs of waking up.

“We need to put him on my bed,” Stiles rose unsteadily to his feet and faced his Dad. “He should be comfortable while he heals.”

His father still looked uncertain.

“Dad, please, trust me on this,” Stiles appealed and his father sighed.

“Fine, but only because you trust him.”

“Thank you,” Stiles tried for a smile but it didn’t work. His father nodded that he understood the gesture, before scooping Derek up and carrying him upstairs to Stiles’ room. Stiles hurried to clean up the tweezers, cotton wool and to drain the bowl of water before grabbing some bandages and running after.

His dad waited while Stiles patched up the wound and covered Derek with the duvet.

“Thanks, Dad,” he repeated, dragging his computer chair over to the bed and sitting in it so he could watch over Derek.

* * *

Four days and four nights passed without Stiles getting any sleep. He constantly watched Derek, who had yet to show any signs of life. He changed the dressings on the wounds, kept him warm and didn’t leave his side.

His dad would bring up food and while Stiles ate, he would explain Derek. He would talk about how he found the alien and how he’d watched movie after movie with him and how he’d promised to keep him safe. His father was surprisingly accepting of the situation.

“Sounds like you really care about him,” the Sheriff had commented after one of the explanations, picking up the dirty dishes and taking them to be cleaned.

“Yeah,” Stiles murmured, returning to watch Derek. “I really do.”

On the fifth night, Stiles awoke with a jump. His father gazed down at him, concern open on his face.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen you sleep since Derek was shot,” he whispered. Stiles wiped his eyes. “Kiddo, I’m going out to work. I’ve been stuck with the night shift.”

“Okay, Dad, see you later.”

The Sheriff patted his kid on the shoulder then left. Stiles turned his attention to Derek and watched him again.

Somehow, without him knowing, hours passed. His whole attention was on Derek who was just lying there, breathing. Absent minded, Stiles gripped one of his hands tightly, to reassure himself that Derek was still solid.

He startled, around the time that dawn began to paint the sky, as he felt Derek squeeze his hands. He was so surprised at Derek making a movement after so many tense days of nothing, he almost cried then and there.

“Oh, thank God,” he whispered. “Thank God. You’re okay. I was so worried. I thought you weren’t healing and I panicked because you said you were supposed to heal and it seemed like you weren’t. But everything’s okay.”

Stiles paused for a few moments then took a deep breath in. “While I’ve got the chance to do this without embarrassing myself…I just wanted to say…dammit.”

He shook his head, frustrated at himself. “Why is this so hard?”

He stood and paced around the room a few times before sitting back down and grasping Derek’s hand deliberately this time. “If I don’t say this now, I never will. Derek, I know we’ve only known each other a few weeks. Like a month and a half, tops. But I feel like I know everything about you and I’m sure you feel the same way. Or at least I hope you do.”

“I want to say you’re a good friend. But you’re not. Because you’re more. I want to say I like you. But I don’t. Because I want to say that I think…I think I may love you. And I know it’s stupid but it’s true. And I also know you can’t hear me, so it’s probably pointless me telling you this, but I’m going to anyway. I think I love you.”

And then he did something he would have been too shy to do had he not been sleep deprived: he pressed his lips against Derek’s hand.

“Stiles.”

Stiles’ eyes shot to Derek’s. “Derek! Thank God you’re okay. Um…how much of that did you hear?”

Derek’s shining gold eyes stared straight back at Stiles for a long moment, and Stiles began to feel uncomfortable. Just as he began to shuffle back, Derek’s free hand shot over and clutched the sleeve of his t-shirt to stop him from leaving.

“I love you too,” he declared shyly, right before yanking Stiles into a kiss.

It took Stiles a second to respond. Partly because he was surprised. Not only had Derek heard his revelation but he also felt the same way and now they were kissing. Stiles was used to unrequited love, this was going to take a little time to get used to.

But those thoughts were for later. Now, he gripped Derek just as tight and kissed him back just as hard. It was messy, it was hot, it was sloppy, it was too spontaneous to be anything less, but it was one of the best kisses Stiles had ever received (he wasn’t a virgin in all areas, thank you very much).

He eased his tongue into Derek’s mouth, and Derek let out a soft groan as he let him, pulling Stiles so close, but they still weren’t close enough. Stiles pushed forward, off of the chair onto the bed, and Derek’s arms tightened around him and-

“Well, now I understand why you care so much.”

“Dad!” Stiles gasped in shock as he and Derek sprung apart, like they were on fire from the shock of being caught. “Uh, we were just…”

“I’m sure you were,” the Sheriff agreed, glancing between them both. “I can’t say I know how Derek’s body works, so I hope you’re using protection.”

“Dad,” Stiles complained, his face heating up as the Sheriff disappeared from the room. He glanced shyly at Derek, who was also watching him. Derek shuffled over and patted the space on the bed next to him.

“I can smell how tired you are from here,” he explained when Stiles sent him a questioning glance. “Come up and sleep.”

“What about your…?” Stiles gestured to his stomach. Derek lifted his shirt and peeled off the bandage. His skin was clear; there was no wound.

“I told you I healed.”

Stiles climbed properly into the bed, not caring that he was in jeans, and then curled up under the covers. Derek curled around him, holding onto him, and started humming a song he’d heard in a film some days ago, and Stiles felt himself being pulled into sleep.

His last thought was that Derek loved him too.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **The End**
> 
> Ugh, I don't know if this is any good. A lot of what I've written here is a first for all of my writing, especially the kiss. I think I wrote it so badly, I just...don't even know.
> 
> To be honest, I'm not even sure what happened here. But okay.
> 
> Anyway, come find me on the internet at some point. Either here or my Tumblr.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea when the next chapter will be up, but I have a bunch of days off coming up so hopefully soon.
> 
> I have no idea how many chapters this will be. Probably around four or five short ones.
> 
> I have no idea how this will turn out.
> 
> Comment your prompts, your feelings, whatever.
> 
> * * * REMINDER * * *
> 
> TAKING PROMPTS FOR STEREK ONE-SHOT DRABBLES
> 
> SIDE SHIPS ARE WELCOMED AS LONG AS I AGREE
> 
> NO SMUT REQUESTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
> 
> VISIT MY TUMBLR (link is on other fics, have a gander) OR COMMENT
> 
> * * * END OF REMINDER * * *


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